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The Malone Complex

A Study in Financial Brilliance


H. Kevin Byun
November 2013
A Brief History
Creating Liberty Media - 1991
Alphabet Soup
Strategy
Chronology
Entity Summary
LINTA/LVNTA Spinoff - 2012
Four-Way Spinoff - 2014
Some History
References
Contents
Because we have benefitted from investing
alongside John Malone through numerous
entities, the purpose of this presentation is
part analysis, part history, part opportunity,
and part tribute
Purpose of Presentation
Due to only perceived complexity, most
investors are unaware of one of the greatest
owner/operator/allocators of this time
These opportunities are hiding in plain sight, if
one is simply paying attention
Yet I have never seen consolidated summary or
analysis across the Malone entities, so I decided
to do it myself
Hiding in Plain Sight
John Malone
A Brief History
Liberty
Media
TCI
AT&T
LINTA
Liberty
Media
LCAPA
LVNTA
LINTA
LMDIA LSTZA
LBTYA
DISCA DTV
Liberty
Media
Liberty
Media
STRZA
Creating Liberty Media - 1991
Source: SEC filing
Lowest Paid, Best Performing CEO
During the preceding 15 years, Malone had enjoyed a reputation
of being one the lowest-paid, best performing CEOs in America.
For more than 15 years of running TCI, what drove Malone was
a determination to create the biggest and most cash-efficient
cable operator in the country Yet, for all this, his stake was
puny: a tiny fraction of 1% in 1991.
It was making Bob [Magness] very rich. And Bob wasnt
reciprocating. And that was just Bob Thats what created
Liberty And it worked. - Malone (Note: Magness was a
father figure to Malone and there was no ill will)
Creating Liberty Media - 1991
Source: Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business
Government Impetus
Based on talks with his attorneys as well as his cable colleagues,
Malone suspected that government regulators would try to
force him to split TCI in two - a distribution company, owning
all of TCIs cable systems, and a content company, owning
interests in cable channels. So Malone decided to do it for
them.
In early 1991, he set up plans to form a new company, Liberty
Media, and planned to stock it with more than $600 million worth
of assets from TCI, roughly half the value in cable systems and
the other half in programming stakes, mostly minority interests
in small and large channels.
Creating Liberty Media - 1991
Source: Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business
Liberty Media returned 15x the initial
investment in two years
Shareholders received rights that entitled them to exchange
some of their TCI stock for shares in the new company.
Liberty was issuing a maximum of only 2.1m shares. TCI had
415m shares...
1 Right received for every 200 TCI shares. Each right + 16
shares of TCI (at $16) = 1 share of Liberty Media! = $256 per
share...
Liberty showed a pro forma loss.
Another twist: Any common not sold in the rights offering would
be replaced by preferred stock owned by TCI, i.e. a backstop to
the deal.
The Bottom Line: The fewer shareholders that participated
in the Liberty offering, the more leveraged the upside
potential for Libertys stock.
Creating Liberty Media - 1991
Sources: You Can be a Stock Market Genius. Cable Cowboy. Filings.
Malone was granted nontransferable options to purchase 100,000
shares of Liberty at price per share equal to $256. Malone got
options on $25m in Liberty stock at $256 per share.
Hiding in Plain Sight: Since the bulk of Libertys assets were
made up of equity stakes in other companies, the revenues and
earning of most of these interests were not consolidated into
Libertys income statement. (These stakes merely appeared on
Libertys balance sheet at cost.)
Only about 700k shares were issued (out of 2.1m
maximum)...
Rights were freely traded. Available at less than $1 per
right...
Most shareholders neither exercised nor sold their rights.
P.S. Less than two years after the rights offering, Liberty
split its stock 20 for 1, then 4 for 1, and then 2 for 1...
Creating Liberty Media - 1991
Sources: You Can be a Stock Market Genius. Cable Cowboy. Filings.
By the summer of 1993, shares that initially
sold for $256 apiece were worth $3,700,
sending Malones investment of $42.1m, most of
it borrowed from Liberty on a personal note,
climbing to more than $600m.
For Malone, the transaction was elegant
given the gains came without enormous income
taxes, since it was structured via stock swaps,
which were not taxable.
Creating Liberty Media - 1991
Source: Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business
LMCA / LMCB (Liberty Media)
LINTA / LINTB (Liberty Interactive)
LVNTA / LVNTB (Liberty Ventures)
LBTYA / LBTYB (Liberty Global)
STRZA / STRZB (Starz)
Numerous other current entities (DISCA / DISCB, ASCMA /
ASCMB, EXPE A/B, TRIP A/B)
Numerous other previous entities (TCI Ventures, TCI Intl, LSTZA
/ LSTZB, LCAPA / LCAPB, LMDIA / LMDIB)
Most investors lose interest about now...
Malones Alphabet Soup
Cash flow, EBITDA pioneer
Tax efficiency / tax deferral
Net operating losses, tax shield
Leverage, bulkheads
Equity shrink, opportunistic
Synergies / Scale, horizontal / vertical
Cost / Capex reduction
Spinoffs / Reverse Morris Trust / Mergers
Tracking stocks
Stock swap / exchanges
Hard / soft control, voting stock
Decentralization
Joint Ventures
Malone Strategy - The Flywheel
Chronology
Entity Summary
LMCA / LMCB (Liberty Media) - Holds SIRI, LVY, CHTR, other
assets
LINTA / LINTB (Liberty Interactive, Tracking stock) - Holds
QVC, HSNI, Digital assets
LVNTA / LVNTB (Liberty Ventures, Tracking stock) - Holds
TRIP, EXPE, TWC, exchangeable debt, other assets, the public
hedge fund
LBTYA / LBTYB (Liberty Global) - International cable
consolidation
STRZA / STRZB (Starz) - Content entity spinoff from LMCA
LVNTA was spun off from LINTA August 10, 2012 at $40 per
share. In Nov 2013, LVNTA is $120 per share.
20 LINTA shares = 1 LVNTA share
3 LVNTA shares = 1 Right at a 20% discount to 20 day VWAP
Assets include Public Holdings (TRIP, EXPE, TWX, TWC, IILG,
TREE, AOL) + Cash + Tax adjustments
Liabilities include tax-advantaged exchangeable debt
No dates were given in any filings (to keep investors guessing)
Only approved spinoff on August 8, 2012, two days before...
Parallel announcement of LMCA+STRZA spinoff (which shifts
attention from the LVNTA opportunity)
LINTA + LVNTA Spinoff - Aug 2012
Four-Way Spinoff - Q2 2014
LVNTA
LINTA
QVCA
LDCA
LVNTA
LTCA
QVC, HSNI, CNR Assets
eCommerce Assets
Public Holdings, Solar Assets
TRIP Holdings
LINTA to Become QVCA + Spinoff LDCA
QVCA (QVC Group) to hold QVC related assets, HSNI stake,
CNR stake, Cash, Certain Liabilities
LDCA (Liberty Digital Commerce) to hold ecommerce assets
(such as Provide Commerce, Backcountry.com, Bodybuilding.
com, Evite.com), Cash, Certain Liabilities
1 LDCA Share = 10 QVCA Shares
1 QVCA Share = 1 LINTA Share
Separation to highlight value of QVCA and LDCA assets
Highlight growth, margin expansion, hidden assets
Continued accretive share buybacks
LINTA = QVCA + LDCA - Q2 2014
LVNTA + LTCA - Q2 2014
LVNTA to Spinoff LTCA
LVNTA (Liberty Ventures) to hold EXPE, IILG, TREE, TWC,
TWX, AOL, Solar, Cash, Certain Liabilities
LTCA (Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings) to hold 22% TRIP
common stake, 57% TRIP voting stake, BuySeasons, Cash,
Certain Liabilities
1 LTCA Share = 1 LVNTA Share
Separation to highlight value of LTCA and LVNTA assets
Highlight hidden assets
Address significant sum of the parts discount
$1 invested at the beginning of the Malone era
in 1973 was worth over $900 by 1998.
Some History: Compounding at TCI
Source: The Outsiders
Liberty Media was the first in a series of tracking stocks that
Malone created, including TCI Ventures (for Teleport, Sprint/PCS,
and other non cable assets) and TCI International (for TCIs
ownership in miscellaneous foreign cable assets)
Malone started with the spinoff of Western Tele-Communications
microwave business in 1981
By the time of the sale to AT&T, TCI had spun off a remarkable
seven different entities to shareholders
Some History: Spins/Splits at TCI
Source: The Outsiders
* Based on the current share count at distribution/exchange, i.e., after stock splits
** One exchange right to tender 16 TCI shares of either class were awarded for every 200 shares held
Source: CRSP, TCI Annual Reports
Source: William Thorndike
Listing period
Distribution/exchange terms*
Distribution of 1:1 for TCI Class A
Distribution of 1:20 for TCI Class A
Distribution of 1:20 for TCI Class B
Distribution of 1:13 for TCI Class A
Distribution of 1:13 for TCI Class B
Tender of 1:16 for TCI Class A**
Tender of 1:16 for TCI Class B**
Distribution of 1:4 for TCI Class A
Distribution of 1:4 for TCI Class B
Distribution of 1:4 for TCI Class A
Distribution of 1:4 for TCI Class B
Exchange of 2:1 for TCI Class A
Exchange of 2:1 for TCI Class B
Distribution of 1:1 for WTCI A/B
Distribution of 1:1 for WTCI A/B
Some History: Spins/Splits at TCI
The current stakes in EXPE, TRIP (EXPE Spin), IILG, TREE,
LYV (TKTM) came from one company, IACI, which originally
completed a five-way spinoff in 2008
Liberty owned about 30% of IACI common and about 62% of
voting power, although through an agreement, Mr. Diller had
controlled Libertys votes.
Malone initially opposed the spinoffs because the new companies
have a single-tier voting structure, shrinking Libertys power.
Liberty sued IACI, but a Delaware judge sided with Mr. Diller,
and Mr. Malone later dropped his appeal.
Some History: IACI & Barry Diller
Source: Investors Welcome IAC Spinoff
January 13, 2013 - LMCA spin-off of STRZA. Effected by Old LMC, (i) all of the businesses, assets, and liabilities of Old LMC, other than Starz,
LLC,were contributed to Liberty Spinco, Inc., a former subsidiary of Old LMC; (ii) Old LMC was renamed Starz (STRZ); (iii) Liberty Spinco, Inc. was
renamed Liberty Media Corporation (New LMC); and (iv) all of the stock of New LMCA distributed on January 11, 2013 to the holders of record of Old
LMC stock on the record date. Click here for Basis Allocation.
August 10, 2012 - LINTA/B created the new Liberty Ventures (LVNTA/B) common stock.
November 28, 2011 - Liberty Media completes the conversion of each share of its Liberty Starz common stock (LSTZA and LSTZB) into 0.88129
of a share of the corresponding series of Liberty Capital common stock (LMCA and LMCB). Download FORM 8937 RECAPITALIZATION
September 23, 2011 LINTA/B (f/k/a Liberty Media Corporation) completes the split-off of L/LMC.B (f/k/a Liberty CapStarz, Inc. and Liberty
Splitco, Inc.). In the split-off, LINTA/B redeemed each share of its LCAPA/B and LSTZA/B common stock in exchange for one share of the
corresponding series of L/LMC.B's LCAPA/B and LSTZA/B common stock, respectively. The ticker symbols for L/LMC.B's LCAPA/B and LSTZA/B
common stock are the same as the ticker symbols for LINTA/B's LCAPA/B and LSTZA/B common stock. Download FORM 8937 SPLIT-OFF
November 19, 2009, Liberty completes split-off of the Liberty Entertainment Inc (LEI) and business combination with DIRECTV (NASDAQ:
DTV). Remaining businesses, assets and liabilities not held by LEI remain with Liberty Media and are redesignated as the Liberty Starz group
(NASDAQ: LSTZA/B). 1 share of DTV and .1 shares of LSTZA/B issued for each share of LMDIA/B. Click here for basis allocation.
September 18, 2008, Discovery Holding Company (DHC) completes restructuring into Discovery Communications, Inc. (DCI), and spin off of
Ascent Media Corporation (ASCM). Click here for basis allocation.
March 3, 2008, Liberty Media Corporation completes reclassification of its Liberty Capital group common stock (NASDAQ: LCAPA/B) and issues
new tracking stock for the Liberty Entertainment group common stock (NASDAQ: LMDIA/B): 4 shares of LMDIA/B issued for each share of
LCAPA/B. Click here for Basis Allocation.
May 9, 2006, Liberty Media completes its restructuring and issues two new tracking stocks Liberty Capital group and Liberty Interactive group
(NASDAQ:LCAPA/B and LINTA/B, respectively): 0.05 shares of LCAPA/B issued for each 1 share of L/LMC.B held and 0.25 shares of LINTA/B
shares issued for each 1 share of L/LMC.B held. Click here for Basis Allocation.
July 21, 2005, Discovery Holding Company Spin Off from Liberty Media Corporation: 0.10 shares of DISCA/DISCB issued for each 1 share of
L/LMC.B.Click here for Basis Allocation.
Liberty Media Corporate Actions
Source: Liberty Media website
June 8, 2004, Liberty Media International Spin Off from Liberty Media: 0.05 shares of LBTYA/LBTYB issued for each 1 share of L/LMC.B.Click
here for Basis Allocation.
October 31, 2002, Rights Offering to Liberty Media Shareholders: 0.04 transferable subscription rights issued for each share of Series A common
stock and Series B common stock held. Each whole right entitled the holder to purchase one share of Series A common stock at a subscription price
of $6.00 per share.
August 10, 2001, Liberty Media Split Off from AT&T: Each share of LMG.A/B exchanged on a 1 for 1 basis for shares of the new Liberty Media
Series A and Series B Common stock, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols LMC.A and LMC.B respectively.
June 9, 2000, 2-for-1 Stock Split: 1 additional share of LMG.A/B issued for every share of LMG.A/B held
June 11, 1999, 2-for-1 Stock Split: 1 additional share of LMG.A/B issued for every share of LMG.A/B held
March 9, 1999, AT&T/TCI Merger: Each share of LBTYA/B exchanged on a 1 for 1 basis for shares of AT&T Liberty Media group A/B, trading on the
New York Stock Exchange under the symbols LMG.A/LMG.B
February 6, 1998, 3-for-2 Stock Split: 1 additional share of LBTYA/B issued for every 2 shares of LBTYA/B held
January 6, 1998, TCI/Liberty Merger Settlement: 0.01345 share TCOMA for each share of LBTYA held on August 4, 1994; 0.01542 share TCOMB
for each share of LBTYB held on August 4, 1994
January 13, 1997, 3-for-2 Stock Split: 1 additional share of LBTYA for every 2 shares of LBTYA and LBTYB
August 10, 1995, distribution of Liberty tracking stock: 0.25 shares LBTYA/B issued for each 1 share of TCOMA/B
August 4, 1994, Merger with TCI: 0.975 shares TCOMA/B for each share of LBTYA/B; 1 share TCOMP for each share of LBTYP
March 17, 1993, 2-for-1 Stock Split: 1 additional share LBTYA/B issued for each one held
December 3, 1992, 4-for-1 Stock Split: 3 additional shares LBTYA/B issued for each one held
March 12, 1992, Liberty recapitalization: 20 shares new LBTYA/B + 2 shares LBTYP issued in exchange for each share of old LBTYA/B
March 28, 1991, Liberty trades publicly
March 19,1991, exercise of Liberty Rights: 16 shares TCOMA/B + 1 Right = LBTYA/B
March 19, 1991, expiration of Liberty Rights: Any not exercised expired with no value
February 6, 1991, issuance of Liberty Rights: 1 Right for every 200 shares of TCOMA/B
Liberty Media Corporate Actions
Source: Liberty Media website
As you look back at your career, will you share some examples of your most successful
investments?
My most successful investment involved one of the executives that I have an enormous amount of respect
for, John Malone. John for years headed up Tele-Communications (TCI), which was the biggest cable company in
the business. In the early 1990s, he decided to spin off Liberty Media, which was a collection of TCIs programming
and cable network assets, and he did it in typical John Malone fashion. It was a very complicated split-off, not a
spinoff. They set up an exchange ratio between Liberty and TCI that people didnt understand. The prospectus was
daunting. John put low valuations on the assets, because none of them were traded publicly. I thought it
was an enormously attractive situation.
We decided we still loved TCI. We didnt want to give up our ownership, so we went out in the open market and
bought enough TCI shares to submit into this split-off so that we would own about 15% of Liberty Media, as well. And
then we actually bought some rights and thought maybe we would ultimately own 18% or 19% of Liberty Media.
Two days before the deal closed, I got a call from John Malone because he knew what I was doing. He
said, Gordy, less than half the people are going to exercise their rights to trade into the split-off, so youre going to
own 43% of Liberty Media. I talked to our lawyers and we figured out that, although the ownership limit was
20%, we were only going to have about 12% of the votes. For that reason they let us go ahead with it and, on day
one, we owned 43% of Liberty Media. For a couple of months the stock almost never had a down day because
everybody that owned it had jumped through hoops to get there, so there were no sellers. People finally
figured out how valuable, and undervalued, these assets were. Over the next few years the stock went up, I think, 20
times. It was an enormously successful investment.[Emphasis added]
Gordon Crawford
Source: Four decades of investing with Gordon Crawford
Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable
Business by Mark Robichaux
The Billionaire Shell Game: How Cable Baron John Malone and
Assorted Corporate Titans Invented a Future Nobody Wanted by
L.J. Davis
End of the Line: The Rise and Fall of AT&T by Leslie Cauley
The Outsiders by William Thorndike
You Can be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt
Articles
Press Releases
Filings
References

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